The prog-rock band Phil Collins hated: “I just don’t like them”
While Phil Collins is often regarded as a pillar and pioneering figure within the progressive rock movement of the 1970s, that doesn’t necessarily mean that it was always his greatest ambition to be regarded in such a way.
Plenty of other artists cite Genesis, both with Peter Gabriel at the helm and once Collins had taken over on lead vocal duties, as being one of the greatest progressive rock acts to have ever graced the earth, listing them alongside other titans of the genre such as Yes and King Crimson. Their output was inventive, and far from being derivative of their peers, and this is ultimately what helped them stand out from the rest of the crowd who were taking the same ambitious approach to rock music.
However, it was certainly more the case that Gabriel was the member who drove the band in this direction, and while A Trick of the Tail, the first album that Genesis released with Collins taking the reins in 1975, was definitely proggy in its delivery, they would soon begin to shift in other directions. It was no longer Gabriel’s decision where to take the band’s sound, and given the different perspective that Collins had on prog rock, they were bound to alter their sound when he became the de facto leader.
Collins himself seemed to be disenchanted with the very nature of prog by this point, and wanted to move into a more accessible, synth-driven style that they would adopt on their ‘80s records, and his solo material is certainly more in this vein as well. Given the vast amount of influences that Collins wished to toy with, it’s understandable that he would look to mutate the band and see if they were able to adopt a new approach.
What’s more, he had expressed a certain distaste for other prog rock acts who were celebrated at the same time that Genesis were at their creative peak, and made it very clear that their style was not something that he was on board with. One of the people who was on the receiving end of Collins’ critiques was Carl Palmer, who while popular in his efforts with Emerson, Lake & Palmer, didn’t impress Collins in the slightest.
In a 1973 interview, when asked about the work of another progressive rock outfit, Premiata Forneria Marconi, he compared them to ELP, and said that the direction they were taking was unimpressive to him. “I don’t like ELP. I don’t like the way they are, as people,” he claimed, refusing to hold back his true feelings. “I don’t like Carl Palmer’s drumming, I don’t like the music. It’s much too neurotic. And it’s too on one level.”
He continued by countering his statements by saying that he “would never doubt the fact that they’re excellent musicians”, and that he was still quite friendly with both Keith Emerson and Palmer, but that didn’t mean he had to be unwavering in his support for a fellow prog rock act’s work.
